Core Foundation Sues Maple Finance Over Alleged Trade Secret Theft

The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has granted an injunction against Maple Finance over alleged breaches of its commercial partnership with Core Foundation to develop lstBTC, a liquid staked Bitcoin token launched earlier this year that helped Maple secure over $150 million in client assets.

The court ruling prohibits Maple from launching its competing product, syrupBTC, and from dealing in CORE tokens pending arbitration, while finding serious merit in Core’s claims of misuse of confidential information and exclusivity violations.

The dispute stems from a partnership formed in early 2025 to create lstBTC, a product that enables Bitcoin holders to earn yield while maintaining their assets with institutional custodians like BitGo.

Core Foundation alleges that by mid-2025, Maple began secretly developing syrupBTC, a rival offering that violated their 24-month exclusivity agreement, while continuing to accept Core’s capital, resources, and confidential information.

From Partnership Success to Alleged Betrayal

Core Foundation and Maple Finance announced their lstBTC partnership at Consensus Hong Kong in February 2025, targeting Bitcoin investors seeking yield without sacrificing custody security.

Core invested substantially in technical development, marketing, and subsidies, while Maple launched with under $500 million in assets.

The Bitcoin Yield offering’s April 2025 launch catalyzed explosive growth for Maple, securing over $150 million in Bitcoin through an early over-the-counter version of lstBTC.

That early traction demonstrated strong product-market fit for a Core-powered Bitcoin yield product, which Core claims became the catalyst for Maple’s alleged pivot to competing infrastructure.

Core alleges that by mid-2025, Maple began misusing confidential information and work product while continuing to accept resources to develop syrupBTC, a rival offering that violated their 24-month exclusivity agreement.

On September 26, 2025, Justice Jalil Asif KC ruled that there is a serious issue regarding Maple’s alleged breach of exclusivity and misuse of confidential information, with the judgment published on October 30, 2025.

Court Rules Damages Insufficient

The court determined that monetary damages would be inadequate due to the risk that Maple would dispose of CORE tokens and the irreversible head-start advantage a competing product launch would provide.

The injunction prohibits Maple from using Core’s confidential information, launching syrupBTC or similar products, and dealing in CORE tokens without written consent.

Rich Rines of Core DOA urged Bitcoin Yield lenders to “strongly consider seeking independent legal advice” before signing Maple agreements.

“We do not believe they have a right to impair your BTC,” he stated, referencing the bankruptcy-remote structure Core required to protect lender principal.

Questions Over Lender Asset Access

Maple indicated it needs to declare impairment worth millions of dollars against Bitcoin Yield lenders, raising questions about asset accessibility and legal authority.

Core maintains the Bitcoin should be held safely with reputable custodians in a bankruptcy-remote segregated portfolio, a structure Core specifically required during initial contracting to ensure assets remained ring-fenced and could never cover other Maple liabilities or exposures.

The lstBTC product featured hedged protection, with CORE price volatility managed through put options procured from third parties, with Core Foundation serving as one provider.

Core honored every put expiry for months, paying out millions of dollars, until it determined that it was directly subsidizing a competitive product following Maple’s alleged material breaches.

As a result of this discovery, BitcoinYield removed Maple from its tracking database, citing potential fund losses and pending litigation, while Maple has also removed the Bitcoin Yield product from its website.

However, Maple denies wrongdoing and pledges to pursue “all available remedies aggressively,” while Core maintains it will take legal action “as far as necessary to protect the community.“

The crypto sector has witnessed similar disputes in recent years, including Citadel Securities suing Swiss start-up Portofino Technologies in 2023 over alleged trade secret theft.

Citadel accused founders of secretly launching a crypto market-making firm while employed and of conducting clandestine investor meetings.

Moving forward, Core Foundation says it will remain engaged with multiple teams for expected launches in the coming months while seeking new partners for Core-powered liquid staking products.